Claims plane wreckage found in the Philippines could be MH370

REPORTS that plane wreckage had been found in the heart of the Filipino jungle sparked conspiracy theories it could be MH370. But officials have now officially rejected the claims.

REPORTS that a Malaysia Airlines plane wreckage had been found in the heart of the Filipino jungle have been unfounded.

Malaysia’s Police Chief General Khalid Abu Bakar said Philippine authorities had investigated the claims made over the weekend that a plane with a Malaysian flag and human remains inside had been found on the island of Sugbay in the Tawi Tawi province were untrue.

“The Philippines has confirmed there is no plane wreckage,” the state-run Bernama news agency quoted General Khalid as saying in a text message.

On Saturday, a man reported in Sandakan police station in the Malaysian part of Borneo that his nephew found aircraft wreckage, which could be part of the missing flight MH370.

Jamil Omar, a local audiovisual technician, told old Malaysian TV channel Astro Awani that his newphew and a few of his friends were out hunting for birds when they stumbled on the plane in early September.

They reportedly found skeletons in the pilot’s chair and cabin as well as a piece of cloth said to be a Malaysian flag.

Mr Omar, who doesn’t live on the island, said his aunt, who had been visiting him in Sabah, told him about the find.

“The residents on the island hunt birds for food and build their houses on the water. They don’t watch television and as such they have no knowledge of the outside world,” Mr Omar told Astro Awani.

“She (Siti Kayam, his aunt) was shocked to learn that the item, that was removed from the aircraft wreckage as claimed by the teenager, was the Malaysian flag.”

Mr Omar said the piece of cloth was still intact but had already been washed and added that several police officers had come to his home to record his aunt’s statement and took the piece of cloth with them.

Despite the location of the wreckage being far from the current official search area as well as Reunion Island, where the flaperon of the missing airliner washed ashore, the Malaysian government took the claims seriously and directed it’s Civil Aviation department and the Ministry’s Air Accident Investigation Division to look into the matter, Channel News Asia reported.

Malaysia’s police also said it would investigate the claims.

“There was no photograph to support the claim so we are relying on our counterpart to check,” Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, told reporters on Sunday, adding that it could take one or two days before anything could be verified, The International Business Times reported.

To give a sense of the geography involved. Not only far from 7th Arc (dashed line), also far from Reunion. #MH370 pic.twitter.com/yOG2KDwJoT

— Mike Chillit (@MikeChillit) October 10, 2015

Filipino police were also said to be baffled by the claims saying they have not had any reports of a plane crashing on any of their island, which ws confirmed today.

“We will check it out but if there is any aircraft that has gone down in our area there would have been alerts from civil aviation authorities.

“To date, there has been none,” Maguindanao-based Regional Chief Directorial Staff Senior Superintedent Rodoleo Jocson told The Star online.

“There have been no reports to our provincial police in Tawi Tawi of any aircraft wreckage being found as well.

Last month, French authorities confirmed a flaperon found on the shore of Reunion Island belonged to MH370.

The piece of the missing airliner was found by locals on the island on July 29.

A spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau told news.com.au the report of aircraft debris being found in the Philippines was being investigated.

“All the evidence to date, including the flaperon found on La Reunion which has been confirmed to be from MH370, points towards the aircraft being in the southern Indian Ocean,” he said.